RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin outlines results Moscow seeks in Ukraine

Russia is seeking to achieve “lasting and sustainable peace” by eliminating the root causes of the Ukraine conflict, President Vladimir Putin has said, in an extract of an interview released by Russia 1 TV on Sunday.

In a clip posted by journalist Pavel Zarubin on Telegram, Putin stated that Russia has “enough strength and resources to bring what was started in 2022 to its logical conclusion” while accomplishing Moscow’s key goals.

Russia wants to “eliminate the causes that caused this crisis, create conditions for long-term sustainable peace and ensure the security of the Russian state and the interests of our people in those territories that we always talk about,” he added.

The president was apparently referring to Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, which overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining Russia in referendums in 2014 and 2022.

People in these former Ukrainian territories “consider Russian to be their native language”and see Russia as their homeland, he said.

Commenting on the ongoing diplomatic engagement with the US to settle the conflict, Putin acknowledged that “the American people, including their president [Donald Trump] have their own national interests.”

“We respect that, and expect to be treated the same way,” he added.

Putin’s remarks come on the heels of the first direct Russia-Ukraine talks since 2022. As a result of Turkish-mediated negotiations in Istanbul, both sides agreed to exchange lists of conditions for a potential ceasefire, conduct a major prisoner swap, and discuss a follow-up meeting. The Kremlin has not ruled out direct talks between Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky if the ongoing peace efforts result in progress and firm agreements.

Following the talks, US President Donald Trump announced he would hold a phone call with his Russian counterpart on Monday, which would focus on trade and resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the Istanbul negotiations with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who welcomed the results of the talks.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia launches war's largest drone attack ahead of Putin-Trump call

Russia launched on Sunday its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, destroying homes and killing at least one woman a day before U.S. President Donald Trump is due to discuss a proposed ceasefire with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine's intelligence service said it also believed Moscow intended to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile later on Sunday as an attempt to intimidate the West. There was no immediate response from Moscow to the accusation.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, straining to restore ties with Washington after a disastrous February White House visit, met Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Rome on Sunday on the sidelines of Pope Leo's inauguration.

Zelenskiy said the meeting was "good" and released pictures of Ukrainian and U.S. officials sitting outside at a round table and smiling. Ukrainian media said the meeting lasted 40 minutes.

"I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible," said Zelenskiy, who also met the new pope.

Ukraine and Russia held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years on Friday, under pressure from Trump to agree to a ceasefire in a warhe has pledged to bring to a quick end. The foes agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each but failed to agree a truce, after Moscow presented conditions that a member of Ukraine's delegation called "non-starters".

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland planned to speak to Trump before the U.S. and Russian presidents speak on Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. The four European leaders jointly visited Kyiv last week and have been calling for Trump to back new sanctions on Russia.

Asked if it was time to impose tougher sanctions on Russia, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that was up to Trump.

"I think we will see what happens when both sides get to the table," he told NBC News' "Meet the Press" programme.

"President Trump has made it very clear, that if President Putin does not negotiate in good faith, that the United States will not hesitate to up the Russia sanctions along with our European partners."

After a night of air alerts, Ukraine's air force said that as of 8 a.m. on Sunday Russia had launched 273 drones at Ukrainian cities, more than the previous record Moscow had set in February on the war's third anniversary.

'I COULD HEAR THE DRONE'

In the ruins of her family home in the Obukhiv region west of Kyiv, Natalia Piven, 44, recounted how she squeezed into a cellar with her son after an air raid warning, just in time to survive a first wave of drones.

They then ran out to a bomb shelter at a kindergarten, before another wave of drones bore down on the village. Their house was completely destroyed. A 28-year-old woman who lived next door was killed. Ukrainian authorities said three other people were injured, including a four-year-old child.

"I cannot get over it. I simply cannot. I could clearly hear the drone flying right towards my house," Piven told Reuters.

Trump has shifted U.S. rhetoric from supporting Ukraine towards accepting some of Moscow's narrative about the war that Putin launched in 2022. But Kyiv and its European allies are working hard to persuade Trump that it is Moscow that is holding up a truce now.

Zelenskiy has said he would accept Trump's proposal for an immediate ceasefire of at least 30 days with no conditions. Moscow says it would consider a ceasefire but only if conditions are met, including a halt in arms supplies to Kyiv.

It also says any peace talks must address the "root causes" of the conflict, including its demands that Ukraine cede territory, be disarmed and accept neutral status. Kyiv says that would amount to capitulation and leave it defenceless.

RT/Reuters

In March 2006, Uganda’s Supreme Court convened to begin adjudication of the disputes over the presidential election that occurred the previous month in the country. Voting took place on 23 February. Two days later, on 25 February, the Electoral Commission announced the results, giving the incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, 59.28% of the valid votes cast. In second place, with an award of 37.36% of the votes, the commission announced Kiiza Besigye, a medical doctor whose military career began as part of the bush war that brought Museveni to power 20 years earlier in 1986.

In his petition against the announced result, Besigye argued that the Electoral Commission did not validly declare the results in accordance with the Constitution and the Presidential Elections Act; and that the election was conducted in contravention of the provisions of both. His evidence was compelling.

Yet, the impression that the petition process was a ritual performance with a predetermined outcome pervaded the process. Leading the legal team for the Electoral Commission of Uganda who were defendants in the petition was Lucian Tibaruha, Solicitor-General of Uganda. In reality, he also led the lawyers for the president, also a defendant alongside the Electoral Commission. Handling election petitions for a party political candidate was not supposed to be part of Lucian’s job, but there he was. 

Presiding was Benjamin Josses Odoki, Chief Justice of Uganda since 2001 and the author of the 1995 Constitution that incrementally made Museveni a life president. Idi Amin, Uganda’s infamous military dictator, elevated Odoki to the bench as a 35-year-old in 1978. Amin’s nemesis, Museveni, elevated him to the Supreme Court eight years later and made him Chief Justice in 2001.

Announcing its reasoned judgment in January 2007, the court found that there had been non-compliance with the Constitution of Uganda and the applicable laws in the form of “disenfranchisement of voters by deleting their names from the voters register or denying them the right to vote” as well as “in the counting and tallying of results.” 

The court equally found as a fact that the “principle of free and fair elections was compromised by bribery and intimidation or violence in some areas of the country” and also that “the principles of equal suffrage, transparency of the vote, and secrecy of the ballot were undermined by multiple voting, and vote stuffing in some areas.” 

Despite these findings, Chief Justice Odoki and his court ruled by a majority of four votes to three of Justices of the Supreme Court of Uganda to uphold the election and grant President Museveni another five years in power. Two years after this decision, in 2009, when the Chief Justice’s son, Phillip Odoki, wedded, Museveni’s son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, was the best man.

In 2010, it emerged that Chief Justice Odoki never harboured any doubts about the outcome. Questioned about the role of judges in deciding elections in Africa, Odoki, “smiled when commenting that to nullify a presidential election would be suicidal.” He lived to see his peers in Kenyaand Malawi do just that in 2017 and 2020, respectively. It proved not to be suicidal.

According to former law teacher, Olu Adediran, the role of judges in these kinds of cases is in reality “a compromise between law and political expediency.” Jude Murison is more direct in calling it “judicial politics.” Judges are not instruments of change or revolution, and when they are called upon to adjudicate between sides in a political dispute, they are more often than not likely to treat that not as an opportunity to change political paymasters, except when the bell has already tolled undisputedly for an incumbent. 

Politicians are supposed to sell themselves to the people through their programmes and through campaigns in a contest of both ideas and vision. In return, the people, through their votes, offer endorsement to the politicians and programmes that they believe best advance their interests. An electoral commission is a referee supposedly engaged and maintained at the public expense to administer this contest. 

This is where things begin to break down. Although engaged in the name of the people, every electoral commission is appointed by people in power who never wish to relinquish it. When a dispute emerges as to the kind of job done by the electoral commission, it ends up before judges. However, the same people who appoint the electoral commission also usually appoint the most senior judges to office. In the maelstrom of party political competition, guardrails break down as politicians struggle to casualise the popular electorate in order to prosper a judicial selectorate.  

The more election disputes end up in court, the more it becomes evident to politicians that it is easier to make deals with the judges. The people are and can be unpredictable, unlike most judges. Increasingly, therefore, politicians seek to judicialise the site of decision-making on elections, relocating that from the polling booth to the courtroom. 

If a politician can get their spouse appointed to become a judge, they can even make the site of decision-making in elections more intimate, relocating it from the courtroom to the bedroom. 

Instead of the usual soapbox, increasingly elections in many countries can be decided by good old pillow-talk. Former federal legislator, Adamu Bulkachuwa, whose wife, Zainab, headed Nigeria’s Court of Appeal for six years until 2020, published the manual on this model of electoral ascendancy in his parliamentary valedictory remarks as a senator in June 2023.

This is why the judicialisation of politics in Africa increasingly represents a huge risk to the popular will as the basis of government. First, it vitiates the right to democratic participation and suppresses the popular will as the foundation for democratic legitimacy. Second, it enables the courts to deprive the people of their democratic rights, accomplishing that under the alluring pretence of rule of law.

Third, it provides perverse incentives for politicians to capture the courts, making the judiciary in many African countries a battleground for the pre-determination of election outcomes. Fourth, it has the capacity to alter the character of the judiciary from an independent institution to a plaything of political insiders.

This trend in consigning elections to the care of a judicial selectorate around Africa now endangers judges and their independence. In Malawi, in 2020, the president attempted to remove the Chief Justice in order to secure a Supreme Court panel more solicitous of his interests in the lead-up to a presidential re-run, following a rigged electoral contest that had been struck down by the courts. 

The following year, in September 2021, the ruling party in Zimbabwe pressured the Constitutional Court to overrule an earlier decision of the High Court that blocked an extension of the tenure of the Chief Justice after he had reached the official retirement age. This allowed the Chief Justice to still serve, but on a contract that made him more subject to presidential whim. Ahead of contentious national elections two years later, the same president decided to advance $400,000 to all serving judges in Zimbabwe in “housing loan” with no repayment obligations. One of the beneficiaries was the chair of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), herself a serving judge. Unsurprisingly, she announced her benefactor, the incumbent president, as the winner in the ensuing election. 

Even worse, this trend now also endangers entire countries, if not indeed regions. This was evident in April 2020, when Mali’s Constitutional Court overturned the results of 31 parliamentary seats won by the opposition. Its decision to hand these seats over to the ruling party sparked an uprising that led first to the dissolution of the Constitutional Court, and later the overthrow of the government in a military coup. 

Mali’s twin crises of governmental legitimacy and state fragmentation are a tragic reminder of the dangers of judicial overreach in election adjudication. But the crisis in Mali has also become a regional crisis for West Africa. To adapt an expression familiar to new-age Pentecostals in West Africa: what judges cannot do does not exist. 

** A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Sudhir Chaturvedi

When did the word "sales" become taboo? Regardless of whether you're offering a product or service, the essence of every business is rooted in effective sales. Yet, we often shy away from the term, opting for titles like business development lead, client advisor, or account manager. Why does the word "salesperson" evoke such discomfort?

Growth Solves All Problems

In business, growth creates a virtuous cycle. Sales drive initial growth, creating headroom for more investments. These additional investments can then fuel expansion into new markets or innovations, sparking further growth. Success begets success, making the company more attractive not only to clients but also to top talent seeking dynamic environments. At the heart of this growth is a high-performing sales organization.

Conversely, without effective sales-driven growth, companies risk entering a vicious cycle. Lacking growth, organizations cut back investments, shrink resources, and ultimately stagnate. This stagnation then deters both clients and talent, further deepening the downturn.

To build and sustain this kind of momentum, organizations must rethink assumptions about who salespeople are and what truly drives them.

Myth 1: Salespeople Are Only Motivated By Money

One of the most common misconceptions about sales is that it’s all about the money. Yes, compensation matters, but it’s not what truly drives the top performers.

Effective salespeople are driven by something deeper: a relentless desire to win. The most effective among them are like high-performance athletes—motivated by competition, fueled by results and obsessed with success. You show me a good loser, I'll show you an unsuccessful salesperson.

For these individuals, winning isn’t just about closing a deal. It’s about earning recognition, influence, and the opportunity to lead. Of course, money follows—but it’s not the goal. It’s the by-product of performance.

Myth 2: Salespeople Work Best Alone (‘Lone Wolves’)

Another persistent stereotype about salespeople is that they’re lone wolves, who don’t like rules and processes, act independently and succeed only through personal grit and individual charm. The reality is that top-performing salespeople are anything but solo acts.

All good salespeople create a team around themselves, engaging with the best people in every area of the business to build the ecosystem to be successful.

They are intuitively systems thinkers who are process-driven, making sure that all facets of an opportunity are moving in the right direction. They aren’t concerned with being the smartest person in the room—their objective is to problem-solve through networking. They'll go deep within the client organization to learn more about and connect with the champions there.

Myth 3: Salespeople Aren’t Transparent Or Trustworthy

Salespeople often carry the stigma of being slick talkers, more interested in closing deals than stating the facts. It’s the age-old stereotype: oversell, overpromise and disappear. In reality, high-achieving salespeople know that trust is their greatest asset. You can’t build a long-term career on unfulfilled promises because sooner or later, clients see through it.

The best salespeople are actually brutally honest. They tell the client exactly what will happen (and what won’t), and involve the client in the process. They identify and solve pain points as they arise, and don’t try to win every point of contention. They conduct negotiations in an open, fair manner, and they have a longer-term perspective. In the best negotiations, everybody leaves a little unhappy.

Myth 4: Sales Is Merely About Selling Products/Services Immediately

It’s a common misconception that sales is only about pushing products/services and closing the deal quickly. However, the best salespeople aren’t focused on today’s transactions. They are focused on long-term transformation and where a client relationship can lead over time. Strong sales professionals focus on the value of the relationship beyond the current transaction.

With their vast network at their disposal, they have their finger on the pulse of current and upcoming trends. They’re able to help clients envision and realize a better future, and in doing so, secure a long-term pipeline of future sales.

Busting these myths is just the beginning. Once you move past outdated assumptions about what sales is, and who salespeople are, you start to see the deeper skillset that separates good from great.

There are two other factors that enable salespeople to excel.

Masters Of Communication

In sales, timing can be everything, and great salespeople understand that responsiveness is a competitive advantage. Simply being the first to respond to a client’s request can dramatically improve your odds of winning a deal. The first person to respond to an email tends to win disproportionately.

That doesn’t always mean delivering a full proposal immediately. Sometimes, it’s as simple as acknowledging the request with enthusiasm and clarity, something like "Got this, very excited, putting the team together." That kind of message signals hunger, commitment and momentum.

Sales leaders who master communication also know how to work smart. If a proposal is due on a Monday, they aim to submit it a few days earlier. This not only protects their team’s weekend but also gives them a key strategic edge. It’s likely to be the only proposal that is fully read. The highest performing salespeople use communication not just to inform, but to differentiate—and they act with speed.

AI-Driven Sales Leadership

We’re operating in a completely different environment now, and we need to be cautious that we’re not using 20-year-old selling techniques in an AI world. What worked decades ago doesn’t cut it anymore, not when speed, personalization and insight are the new currency.

The most effective sales professionals are embracing artificial intelligence as an accelerator to productivity. AI helps sales teams analyze client behavior, anticipate needs, summarize information and automate follow-ups—all at scale.

When done right, sales drives growth, builds trust and creates brighter futures. It’s time to reclaim the ‘S’ word as the driving force behind every thriving business. Let’s learn from the best and lead with pride.

Forbes

Boko Haram terrorists have killed at least 50 farmers in Malam Karanti village, Kukawa local government area of Borno State.

Daily Trust gathered that the incident happened after the rival Boko Haram fighters ambushed the farmers in the ISWAP controlled area, which is about 9 kilometre from Baga town, on Thursday.

Local sources who confirmed the attack said the farmers and some fishermen had enjoyed the protection of ISWAP commander in charge of the location in exchange for levy.

“They have papers of the commander in charge of Malam Karanti up to Dawashi. His name is Amir Akilu. They enjoyed his protection for months before the latest incident,” he said.

He said the terrorists took advantage of the commander’s absence to attack the farmers whom they accused of spying and siding with their enemies.

One of the survivors of said the terrorists surrounded them and threatened to shoot anybody who attempted to escape.

“In fact some of us had started harvesting beans when the assailants struck. They gathered us in one place and threatened to kill anyone who attempted to escape, but some of us chose to run rather than die miserably in their hands.

“They killed over 50 people; majority of them were slaughtered. They also abducted some. Today they were in Dawashi doing the same killing but there was no information on the number of people affected,” he said.

Neither security agencies nor the government has commented on the tragic incident.

This attack is coming barely five months after the terrorists massacred at least 40 farmers at Dumba community in the same Baga area.

Last month Borno's governor acknowledged that Boko Haram had renewed attacks and kidnappings in the state, reversing previous gains by security forces.

Daily Trust

PRESS RELEASE

The Gravitas Group for Good Governance has  given kudos to President Bola Tinubu for his radical and bold initiative to end banditry, kidnapping and all acts of domestic terrorism in the country.

The statement from a Government spokesman Sunday Dare announcing this development has received tremendous applause from across the country.

For several years, especially in the last one and half decades, Nigerian forests had provided hiding fortresses for all shades and categories of criminal elements who have been terrorising Nigerian citizens.

Paradoxically, most of these terrorists were imported into the country by the so-called leaders who swore to defend the populace.

In a Press statement jointly signed by the Convener of the Gravitas Group, Tola Adeniyi, and its General Secretary, Anthony Kila, the Group believes that Nigerians will now begin to trust and believe their leaders for living up to their basic responsibilities.

This initiative of armed Forest Guards is perhaps the most important policy the Tinubu administration has taken since its inception especially on matters very close to the peoples heart.

Nigerians in all regions of the country from the North, South,  East and West of the have always believed that Insecurity is the greatest challenge confronting the country.

It is insecurity which drove our farmers out of their farms and investors and foreign companies out of the country.

Insecurity singularly strangled the country's food security and gave Nigeria its double digit inflation in foodstuffs prices.

Bandits and barefaced terrorists have sent many people early to their graves, many to Internally Displaced Camps while the tribes of widows and orphans have grown into frightening proportions.

Now that our forests are going to be actively policed and terrorists flushed out of their havens, Nigerians may begin to enjoy a new lease of life.

Gravitas Group hopes that Tinubu will treat Nigerians to more people-oriented public policies.

There will no longer be hiding places for the wicked and heartless.

Hamas confirms new Gaza ceasefire talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday

A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar's Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.

He said the two sides were discussing all issues without "pre-conditions".

Nono said Hamas was "keen to exert all the effort needed" to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was "no certain offer on the table".

The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek "operational control" in some areas of the war-torn enclave.

The return to negotiations also comes after U.S. President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza's growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Trump to speak to Russian, Ukrainian leaders on Monday after talks in Turkey

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would speak to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine on Monday following talks between the two sides at which a Ukrainian official said Moscow's negotiators voiced new demands before a ceasefire could be agreed.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies preparations were underway for a conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump.

The talks in Turkey on Friday were the first time the sides had held face-to-face talks since March 2022, weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour.

A senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks said Russian negotiators demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire.

Trump, writing on Truth Social, said he would speak with Putin to discuss stopping the war at 10 a.m. Eastern (1400 GMT) on Monday.

"THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE 'BLOODBATH' THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE," he wrote.

He said he would speak afterward with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and various members of NATO.

"Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end."

Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the talks while in the Gulf last week if Putin would also attend, but Putin sent a team of negotiators instead.

The president has been pressuring Putin and Zelenskiy to agree to a ceasefire in the more than three-year-old war.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the terms that Russia had put forward at Friday's meeting. The talks lasted only one hour and 40 minutes and yielded an agreement to trade 1,000 prisoners of war on each side. The two countries have not specified when that would happen.

Zelenskiy called on Saturday for stronger sanctions on Moscow after a Russian drone killed nine bus passengers in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine. "This was a deliberate killing of civilians," he said.

"Pressure must be exerted on Russia to stop the killings. Without tougher sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek real diplomacy."

Russia, which denies targeting civilians, said it struck a military target in Sumy. Its defence ministry said Russian troops had captured another settlement in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said he welcomed the "positive role" of the United States in helping to secure a resumption of talks between Russia and Ukraine. A Russian foreign ministry statement quoted Lavrov as saying contacts would continue.

Rubio was quoted as telling the CBS news program "Face the Nation" that Lavrov said the Russians were "working on a series of ideas and requirements that they would have in order to move forward with a ceasefire and further negotiations."

"I think your question is, 'Are they tapping us along?'" he said in the interview to be broadcast on Sunday. "Well, that's what we're trying to find out."

Rubio, who told reporters earlier in Rome that the Vatican could be a venue to facilitate further Russia-Ukraine dialogue, told CBS it was a "very generous offer that may be taken up on."

PRESSING FOR IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE

Ukraine and Western governments, including the U.S., have demanded Russia agree to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire lasting at least 30 days.

But the Ukrainian source said Moscow's negotiators had demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, with a ceasefire to take place only after that.

The source said that and other demands went beyond the terms of a draft peace deal that the United States proposed last month after consultations with Moscow.

Peskov declined to comment on the Ukrainian account, saying talks should be conducted "absolutely behind closed doors".

He said the next steps would be to carry out the prisoner exchange and conduct further work between the two sides. Peskov said it was possible that Putin could meet Zelenskiy, but only if "certain agreements" were reached, which he did not specify.

Zelenskiy had challenged Putin earlier in the week to meet him in person, an offer the Russian leader ignored.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his country, after hosting the talks, was resolved to continue its mediation role.

UKRAINE RALLIES SUPPORT

After Friday's meeting, Ukraine began rallying support from its allies to take tougher action against Moscow.

"Once again Russia is not serious," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Reuters during a visit to Pakistan. "At what point do we say to Putin enough is enough?"

French President Emmanuel Macron also said the talks in Istanbul had been fruitless.

"Today, what do we have? Nothing. And so I tell you, faced with President Putin's cynicism, I am sure that President Trump, mindful of the credibility of the United States, will react."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, which France said this week should aim to "suffocate" the Russian economy.

But after intensifying sanctions for more than three years already, it is unclear how much more they can achieve.

In their efforts to forge a united front and make Putin accept a ceasefire, Ukraine and its European leaders have been repeatedly thrown off balance by interventions from Trump.

Having told Zelenskiy to accept Russia's offer of direct talks in Turkey, Trump said on the eve of the meeting that there could be no movement on peace until he had met with Putin.

The Kremlin says Putin is ready to meet Trump, but such a summit must be carefully prepared. It said there had been no contact between Russia and the U.S. since Friday's talks.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Medvedev issues warning about peace talks

Ultimatums from the West will not help resolve the Ukraine conflict, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned, after the EU and the US threatened Moscow with additional sanctions.

As Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in three years in Istanbul on Friday, US President Donald Trump said he could impose “crushing”restrictions on Russia if it failed to reach a peace deal.

EU member states also agreed on a 17th sanctions package, which is expected to be formally approved next week.

“All enemies of Russia that issue negotiating ultimatums should remember a simple thing: peace negotiations alone do not always lead to the end of hostilities,” Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on X on Saturday.

“Unsuccessful negotiations can lead to the onset of a more terrible stage of the war with new weapons and participants,” he added.

The West has urged Russia to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire proposed by Ukraine and the US. Moscow, however, has argued that Kiev would exploit the pause in combat to rearm and regroup its forces.

President Vladimir Putin has insisted that a lasting settlement would require Ukraine to halt its mobilization drive, stop receiving weapons from abroad, and withdraw its troops from Russian territory.

The head of Russia’s negotiating team in Istanbul, Vladimir Medinsky, said the two sides had agreed to conduct a prisoner swap involving 1,000 POWs from each side, and to continue contacts once both parties have prepared detailed ceasefire proposals.

Reuters/RT

Mandatory voting, the idea that a citizen must cast a ballot in an election, is not new.  Of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 181 members, about 20currently practice some form of it.

Compulsory voting ensures a higher voter turnout. Where they feel that they have something to lose, voters obey the law to avoid the consequences.

A law such as the one sought by Abbas Tajudeen and Daniel Asama Ago in “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Electoral Act, 2022 to make it Mandatory for Nigerians of Maturity Age to Vote in All National and State Elections and for Related Matters” (HB.1930), will, in principle, empty more Nigerians into the streets on election day.
What this law aims at is that Nigerians would no longer vote as a matter of choice, which is the essence of democracy, but because of the consequences of not voting. It will basically criminalise even the act of staying in your own home in disdain for disgusting politicians. Little wonder it has been received with general revulsion.

The bill, which passed the second reading last week in the House of Representatives, appears to be important to the Nigerian political establishment.

I conclude that from seeing that it is led by the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, a man with no legislative honour: even his own page on the House website shows no legislative interests, no target achievements, no awards and honours, and no other bills sponsored.

There is no record of the Zaria Federal Constituency representative being outraged about the age-long killings in his Southern Kaduna neighbourhood or the insecurity that has now grounded Nigeria, threatening to make hunger our story.

Abbas does not have a National Assembly phone number by which Nigerians, particularly his constituents, can reach him.

His email, embarrassingly enough, is a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  While he is in office through the 1999 constitution, 20 years earlier in Lagos, even as a reporter taking his first steps, I walked into the office of Speaker David Ume-Ezeokeand interviewed him.

Today, no reporter can simply walk through the gates of the National Assembly.

Abbas’s personal immortality comes from his swearing-in as Speaker when he brought the tumult of his own life to the stage with his two wives jostlingfor a place with him in the limelight.  This is the man who wants every Nigerian adult to vote in elections.

I have reported the national legislature for 46 years. That includes: “How to Buy A Senator” (2002), “Is the House of Reps for Sale, or Rent?” (2021), and The National Assembly is in Decay (2022).

Only recently, I argued that the legislature was no longer an arm of governance in Nigeria, having morphed into the executive.

That is what the current focus of the Abbas’ House on compulsory voting vindicates.

And this misguided focus reminds Nigerians why they are reluctant to vote in the first place: that when they send people to Abuja, they are mis-representatives.

Think about it: Among the most populous democracies, Indonesia in February 2024 held the world’s largest single-day election to produce a president.  Indonesia is an archipelago: the world’s largest: over 18,000 islands and islets, of which 6,000 are inhabited, straddling three time zones of often treacherous terrain.

For the election, in that one day, the General Elections Commission had to manage over 204 million registered voters, including Diaspora voters, who speak about 150 languages.  Voter turnout was still a remarkable 81.78 per cent

Later in November, the Simultaneous Regional Elections were held in one day to elect 37 governors and vice-governors, 415 regents and vice-regents, and 93 mayors and vice-mayors across the country’s 545 regions.

Similarly, in the 2024 India elections, the world’s most populous country featured over 960 million eligible voters and over 2,700 political parties, including six national and more than 70 state parties. Because of distances, terrains, cultures, religions and climates, the electoral commission faced tricky scheduling that it overcame in six weeks of implementation.

India’s voting is also electronic.  Unlike ours, however, theirs involved over one million polling stations and 15 million election workers who travelled by air, rail, road, boats and camels to make sure that every eligible voter could vote. With the voting calendar concluded on June 1, the votes were tallied on June 4, and the results announced the following day. Voter turnout: 65.7 per cent.

Compare that, then, to Nigeria’s 2023 election, which saw Bola Tinubu take the presidency in a mismanaged election in which voter turnout was an abysmal 25.7 per cent.  According to Chatham House, “President-elect Bola Tinubu received the least number of votes, and lowest winning percentage, of any victor in the Fourth Republic (1999 to date), taking just 36.6 per cent of the total votes cast.”

In other words, Tinubu sits in the presidency on the weakness of a rather humiliating 8.8 million votes, about one-half of what his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, received in 2015.

If their APC truly cared, this is the question to which the federal legislature would be responding: that government and key institutions such as the electoral commission have no credibility.

The challenge is: how do we establish public trust and make voting attractive? Sadly, APC thinks that, instead, it can beat voting into the electorate.

In 2015, the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the dispossessed dragged themselves to the polls nationwide for the APC, seeking to defeat the ruling PDP.

Over the decade which followed, APC has responded by being the filthiest a party can be. Citizens who could leave did.

In the next two weeks, the party will step up preparations for the 2027 elections when it celebrates Tinubu’s two years in office.

In these 10 years, Nigeria has become increasingly insecure, and is listed among the Most Dangerous Countries in 2025.  Throughout the land, people are afraid to go to their markets or the next village. Children are afraid to go to school. Farmers cannot farm, let alone harvest.
But for the deluded APC, this is harvest season on the journey to a one-party state, where every Nigerian will be mandated to vote for its candidates. That is the objective, and they are preparing for it by encouraging every defective politician elsewhere to defect to them.

The Patron-Saint of political defection, Adams Oshiomhole, who announced this Sinner-to-Saint philosophy in 2017, here is the proof, was last week blaming Buhari for Tinubu’s troubles, a blame Tinubu has never found the courage to admit, having been the National Leader.

APC seems to believe that if they inflict this dagger blow, voters who cannot feed their families will drag themselves through blood and hunger and forests and poverty and kidnappers and militia to vote for it.

The bill proposes a six-month imprisonment or a fine of up to N100,000 for defaulters. But they forget two things: to recruit millions of new soldiers and build thousands of prisons. The first will be to ransack all of Nigeria, including Sambisa Forest, on election day, and the other to house those arrested.

In 2023, there were 67.4 million voters in 2023, with 29.4 million votes cast. At the same rate of attrition, there will be over 60 million refusing to vote in 2027.

Come arrest us!

Punch

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor …. and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised ~ Luke 4:18.

Introduction:

Touching lives with the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ sometimes looks very easy, but it is not always so. You definitely need Someone bigger than you — the Holy Spirit Himself — to excel in the spiritual arts of doing good and touching other lives for God on earth!

Quite unfortunately, many people remain oblivious of this fact until reality teaches them. See, reality can be very innovative; it always finds a way to humble people, particularly the top-notch armchair critics.

We can have fulfillment in doing good and making our world better only with the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. However, the degree to which we operate in this power is completely left to us.

We can choose to be walking spiritual dynamos, full of power, performing miracles and operating in the manifestations of Holy Ghost wherever we go, or choose to be spiritual weaklings, failing to utilize the enormous gifts we have received (Ephesians 3:7, 20).

God the Father is the Anointer, Jesus Christ is the Miracle Worker and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, Who binds us to God and His acts of goodwill on earth (Acts 10:38).

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the supernatural potion that signalizes God’s presence on human flesh to accomplish what man cannot do for himself. It is the outpouring of God’s marvelous grace and glory.

We must note that God's grace is not only in His willingness to forgive us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but also in His resources for shaping and using our lives as believers. Hence, the anointed man is the man relevant to God’s agenda in any generation.

Oil, as an emblem of the Holy Spirit, was often poured upon prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament to denote the outpouring of gifts, wisdom and grace from God upon them to qualify them for their respective offices.

Today, when a believer is remarkably anointed by the Holy Spirit, God’s presence becomes manifest, and real spiritual power is experienced in strange victories round about (Acts 1:8). Those who receive this anointing are made alive unto God, and are expressly referred to by Apostle Peter as living stones (1 Peter 4-5).

We Are Anointed to Terminate Satanic Oppressions

Unknown to many people, all Christians are authorized to defeat the enemy, to enjoy total victory in Christ and to touch the world for good (1 John 2:20). Notwithstanding, the Word of God clearly states that those who are born-again of the Spirit have the authority to overrule Satan (John 3:5-8; Luke 10:19).

Of a truth, many spirit beings, good and bad, inhabit the unseen realm. The good ones are agents of goodwill, but the bad ones are structured to do maximum damage to the Kingdom of God and to God’s people in general (Ephesians 6:12-13).

However, we need not fear because Christ already disarmed the evil spirits when He triumphed over them on the Cross (Colossians 2:15). Moreover, we believers are mightily weaponized in the spirit realm, and our weapons have divine capabilities to demolish every fortress of the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:4).

Yes indeed, God freely delegated His authority and divine privileges to us as His favorite children (John 1:12). But, sometimes, we treat them with carelessness and levity, just like we often do with other free things in life, forgetting that, in the real sense of it, there is nothing actually free, only what is paid for by someone else.

God paid the supreme price for our empowerment. He did! Jesus Christ had to die for the Holy Spirit to find fitting spaces in the believers today (John 16:7).

God is the Original Owner of every good thing — greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty, riches, honour, strength, might, and all that is in the heaven and in the earth, etc — but, He has chosen to give portions of these to His children (1 Chronicles 29:11-12; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 John 5:4).

Furthermore, with respect to the believers in Christ Jesus, the Bible also says: “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). The important question is: “who is this Person in us”?

Christ Jesus is He! He took up residence in our hearts by the Holy Ghost when we received His gift of eternal life (Colossians 1:27). He also gave us both authority and power in the Holy Spirit to frustrate the plans of the devil, to defeat persistent difficulties in life and to guide us through all our Christian journeys.

What Happens When We Are Truly Anointed

Basically, we are anointed to touch lives in our generation, and to make our world a better place to live in. To accomplish these, the Holy Ghost installed in us incredible capacities for genuine love (Romans 5:5). It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that makes God’s covenant speak out very effectively in the believer’s life (Psalm 89:28).

Ideally, the greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. Yes, the value of life is computed not by its duration but by its donation. It is not how long we live that matters, but how full and how well. Notwithstanding, it takes the anointing to generate true and lasting impacts.

Without impacts, you cannot be significant, and nobody will be interested in you. But, when you get connected to the Holy Spirit, and you utterly depend on His power, supernatural things begin to happen, and you are bound to make great impacts in the lives of other people.

To do or to see good things on earth requires the workings of the Holy Ghost. Yes, healing is peculiar bread for God’s children; even then, it takes the Holy Spirit to bake it.

Cultivating the Holy Ghost Power Within

Many Christians today are not utilizing the opportunities and the power that are so freely given us; consequently they lead lives beneath the believers’ privileges. Albeit, by divine mercy, they still retain the distinct honor and the awesome responsibility of cultivating this power that is latent within.

This we can do by our sensitive and implicit reliance on the Holy Spirit, trusting God all the way through in our Christian journeys, and releasing confidence in His unfailing power by faith and by our right confessions.

When we trust the Holy Spirit, He makes our inner man stronger so that we can stand equipped to carry on with His purpose on earth. This magnificent "treasure"of strength in our "earthen vessels" is the power of the Holy Spirit from on high (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Moreover, with the Holy Spirit presence in our lives, wisdom is automatically made available to us regarding every situation we face in life (Ephesians 1:17-19). The Holy Spirit is our Present Help, making ways for our profit in all aspects of life (Romans 8: 24-28; 1 Corinthians 1:7).

Friends and brethren, the glorious assignment of influencing people for good will always require the assistance of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 89:25). We must go, therefore, for whatever it takes to get the power of His anointing (Hebrews 1:9; Psalms 89:20). In this essential power encounter, may you never miss out, in Jesus name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Archbishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

The worrisome mind is anathema to the mind of Chist. The mind that is fretful and full of anxiety is a mind that does not glorify God. The worrisome mind is the mind that does not trust God. It is the mind that does not believe that God is God. It is the mind that does not have faith in God. It is the mind that is not fed on the word of God. It is the mind that is not built on the rock of God’s word.

Paul says: 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) (NKJ).

Don’t be anxious about anything. Have you told God about it? Then you can relax. Look at the case of Hannah. She was all hot and bothered, but after she prayed about her barrenness in the temple, she went her way and was no longer sad. (1 Samuel 1:12-18)

Jesus says:

“I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? …Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” (Matthew 6:25/27).

The Doubtful Mind

Jesus says:  

“Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” (Luke 12:29).

The doubtful mind is anathema to the mind of Christ.  

“Love never gives up, never loses faith. (1 Corinthians 13:7).

The doubtful mind gives up. It does not believe the testimonies of God. It says: “God, if only you would do it just one more time.” It does not believe God’s promises.

In the doubtful mind, the worries of this world choke the word of God and render it powerless.  

Jesus says:

“The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22).

The worries of this life choke the word. They strangulate the word. They make the word of God unproductive in our lives.

Peace and rest are evidence of God’s presence in us. When we are exhausted or anxious, it is difficult to hear God clearly. Therefore. be still and know that God is God.

“Jesus says to Martha:

“You are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:41-42).

You are worried about too many things, whereas all you need to do is concentrate on the word of God.

Casting all your care upon (Jesus), for He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7).

Jesus Himself says:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

The Peaceful Mind

The mind of Christ is a mind at peace. “For (Jesus) Himself is our peace.” (Ephesians 2:13). The peaceful mind belongs to he whose heart is set on the Lord. The psalmist says:

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.” (Psalm 57:7).

The heart that is fixed cannot be swayed by events. It cannot be swayed by situations and circumstances. It is not easily destabilised by storms and raging waves of the sea. “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.” (Psalm 112:7).

Isaiah concurs:

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.” (Isaiah 26:3-4).

Mothers have to be very careful. A lot of mothers lose their faith if something bad happens to their children.

The Spiritual Mind

The mind of Christ is the spiritual mind. Paul says:

“To be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6).

To be spiritually minded is to be open to those feelings that the Holy Spirit produces and be subject to His leadings. The spiritually-minded can easily be in the spirit and remain there without being distracted.

Some say, “I can’t pray for any length of time.” This is because we are not spiritually minded. Our senses are not exercised to dwell on spiritual matters. Even when we pray, all our prayers are about the flesh. But if we are spiritually minded, we esteem spiritual things. We appreciate the beauty of holiness. We hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The Carnal Mind

The carnal mind is anathema to Christ.

To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:6-7).

The carnal mind is the mind that follows the propensities and inclinations of the flesh. It is the mind that thinks sex, sex, sex. It is the mind filled with vain imaginations. It is the mind that dwells on the vainglories of this world. It is the mind that can only be appealed to by what is advantageous to itself. It is the greedy mind: the lustful mind. It is the mind that is set upon the things that are in this world. It is the mind that is set upon riches. It is the mind that seeks pleasure and is devoted to pleasing the flesh:

She who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. (1 Timothy 5:6).

The Fleshly Mind

The fleshly mind is the antithesis of the spiritual mind. It is not the mind of Christ.

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5).

18  Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. (Colossians 2:18).

The fleshly mind is vain. Paul says:

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.” (Ephesians 4:17).

The mind, being the head, is supposed to govern the flesh. But in the fleshly mind, the flesh governs the mind.

Many women have fleshly minds. It is all about makeup, hairstyles, jewellery, perfumes, and snazzy outfits. 

Peter counsels:

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward — arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel — rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.” (1 Peter 3:3-6)

Who is the “oga pata pata?” Is it your mind or your body? Can you resist adherence to the sensuous principle? If the answer is “No!,” then you have a fleshly mind. 

The Sound Mind

The sound mind is the mind of Christ.

Do you doubt the grace of God? Do you doubt the mercy of God? Do you feel it applies to others but not to you? Are you fearful? Then you do not have a sound mind.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7).

A sound mind is well-balanced and under the divine influences. In this regard, a sinner does not have a sound mind. It is said of the Prodigal Son:

“When he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’” (Luke 15:17-19).

He looks back and says: “I must have been out of my mind.” “I must have been out of my mind.”

That means he was out of his mind when he engaged in riotous living. Indeed, the whole philosophy of what some call entertainment is to make sure we are out of our minds. 

We go to parties and have a few drinks so that we can be out of our minds and do and say things that we would not have said if we were in our right minds. We take drugs so that we can be out of our minds. We watch certain films (like horror films) so we can be out of our minds.

Within the context of the text, the sound mind is the mind that is not afraid or fearful. It is a mind that is sober and not easily excited. It is a mind not easily given to anger. It is a mind that is not captive to lustful passions.

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